May reviews from St Kilda

See you in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng - reviewed by Spike 

It’s about a boy called Alex Petroski. He’s eleven years old and he lives in the US. He has a dog named after his hero, Carl Sagan. He wants to launch his ipod into space with a series of audio recordings. He calls it the golden ipod because he’s fascinated with space and because of the golden record. It will show other lifeforms what his earth is really like, but he has a long dead dad, a troubled mother and a mostly not around brother. So life is really hard. He goes to a rocket festival in New Mexico. He lives in Colorado, and travels there by himself, without his mum or anybody. He makes adult friends and drives around the US trying to find the answers to questions he has about his mysterious family.

Rated:  5/5 Reallys - “It’s serious, fun and sad all at the same time.”

The bad guys ; bk. 5, Intergalactic gas by Aaron Blabey - reviewed by Mackenzie 

This is the fifth book in the series. They go to the moon to stop Marmalade the alien guinea pig, who has this weapon called the cutezilla ray. They destroy the cutezilla ray and leave Marmalade out in space to float around. There’s also a shark, a snake, two foxes and a burrito eating piranha.

Rated:  5/5 Reallys - “I liked that it’s really happy and then really sad and then really happy again, it leaves you thinking what is going to happen next?!”

The Alchemyst : secrets of the immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott - reviewed by Jaxon 

It’s about this 2,600 year old man named Nicholas Flamel, who is in the first Harry Potter book. Well, in this book, he actually talks about the philosopher’s stone, which makes the elixir of life. He created the stone itself, with a little help from Albus Dumbledore. Alchemy is all about turning stones into precious jewels and elixirs.

So there’s this guy called Dr John Dee, who was Flamel’s apprentice, what Nicholas didn’t know at that time was that Dee was going to try and steal the codex where he learnt alchemy in the first place. He manages to get the codex, but a twelve year old boy, Josh managed to keep a fistful of pages, the most important, final pages known as The Summoning. Without them he will never have a chance of being as powerful as Flamel. Without them, the book is useless. He’s trying to get them, but so far he has failed.

Rated:  5/5 Reallys - “I haven’t finished it yet but it’s really good so far, it still holds the mystery.”

Watch this space by Colin Thompson - reviewed by Ollie

Radius, a billionaire TV show producer, wants to create a reality TV called Watch This Space, where they have auditions, and take one family up into space to live there. The successful family hire a stranger to be their granny and they take their dogs. Radius gives his assistant Fiona one of his everlasting credit cards. Fiona buys granny Mavis some clothes she is like “do I have to wear this?!” Granny Mavis has a history of lighting up other Grannie’s jackets if she finds them fashionably offensive. The rocket is being built by highly trained engineers, or trainee engineers who know nothing about engineering. They fix the rocket ship with “intergalactic gaffer tape” and “space foil.”

Rated:  5/5 Reallys - “I’m about half way through so far, it’s really good. There is mystery around what sort of show Radius is really intending to air… and there is an inventing robot.”

The Sorceress by Michael Scott - reviewed by Yuanquan 

It’s about Nicholas Flamel, who is immortal. His wife Perenelle has been kidnapped and sent to Alcatraz, a prison owned by Dr John Dee. However she has escaped and is now sort of running the place. Sophie has been awakened by Elder Hecate. In the Sorceress they are trying to find someone to teach them the power of water. On the run from Doctor Dee, they escape Paris to London and meet up with Palamedes, who is friends with Sophie’s fire teacher Comte Saint Germain. He saves them in a taxi cab and takes them to this castle made out of cars. He owns the properties all around them. They get attacked by John Dee and his dark elder followers. They destroy the palace, but can’t manage to reach and kill everyone because of fire. Dr John Dee tries to put it out with the sword of ice, Excalibur, but Josh wields the sword of fire. With Dee on their trail they run away and find a mad old King, the only one who can teach him the power of water…

Rated:  4.9/5 Reallys

Lottie and Lisa by Erich Kästner - reviewed by Emese 

If you have seen The Parent Trap this will sound familiar, it’s the original version, there was a German translation first. I read it in Hungarian. It’s about these two girls who live in separate towns. Lisa just has a dad and Lottie a mum. They meet at a Summer Camp and immediately dislike each other. Lisa thinks that Lottie has stolen her look…

The girls go through lots of dilemmas regarding who they are and their families and come up with a crazy plan to switch places…

Rated:  5/5 Reallys - “It’s actually really different to the English version of The Parent Trap, there is a lot more backstory and insight into who people are.”

Middle school by James Patterson – reviewed by Hope 

It’s about this boy who is very naughty and wants to break every school rule. He has this big brother called Rio who he gets on with sometimes. In the middle of the book there is a section where he has to score a certain amount of points to keep going with his mission. He gets expelled, but then they have to take him back because no other school will accept him. The teachers are not happy. There are lots of smaller stories throughout it, as well as pictures.

Rated:  5/5 Reallys - “I like all of the trouble he causes, it’s one of those books that you find hard to stop reading.”

May reviews from Albert Park

Four mice deep in the jungle by Geronimo Stilton - reviewed by Gabriel (aged 7)

Geronimo is scared of lots of things so he goes to visit the doctor. After that his nephew brings him to the airport. Trap (Geronimo’s nephew) falls in love with a lady at the airport who turns out to be the doctor’s niece. The doctor’s niece sends Geronimo to the jungle so he can forget his fears.

In the jungle Geronimo learns to see which snake is poisonous and which one is not. By the end he is not afraid of snakes but is still scared of cats (he is a mouse after all).

Rated:  5/5 - "I like Geronimo Stilton!"

Really Weird ; WeirDo, bk. 8 by Anh Do - reviewed by Flynn (9)

Anh Do’s class are going to have a barn dance so he tries to pass on a note to a girl he has a crush on. Instead it ends up with the wrong person – luckily she wants to go with someone else and Anh Do gets to dance with the girl he has a crush on.

Rated:  3/5 - "I liked it, but not loved it."

Gorilla City ; The amazing adventures of Charlie Small (400) ; notebook 1 by Charlie Small (i.e. Nick Ward) - reviewed by Cole (9)

This is about an 8 year old boy, Charlie Small, and his adventures. His diary is found and in it there are stories of how he is on a raft that gets swept away by a river and attacked by a crocodile. He is taken in by gorillas and then they get attacked by baboons.

Rated:  4/5 – "It’s written like a diary that looks messy but still nice."

Jump Start ; EJ12 girl hero, bk. 2 by Susannah McFarlane - reviewed by Moa (7)

EJ12 is a spy. She saves the world from the Shadow (a bad team). She needs to go to the jungle because the Shadow are doing something really bad. I’ve read some of the books already but not all of them yet.

Rated:  5/5 – "I really like them."

When Hitler Stole the Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr - reviewed by Emma (10)

I finished this book yesterday. Anna and her father (a famous writer) live in Germany when Hitler is elected to power. The day before he wins they flee to France. The police come to take their passports but they have already gone. There are wanted posters issued for Anna’s father.

They decide to take a holiday to Switzerland and they board a train that they are told is going there. They realise it is actually going to Germany and they jump off just in time.

They go to Switzerland and make some new friends but the parents of the children say they can’t play with Anna and her family because they are Jews.

The reason it is called When Hitler Stole the Pink Rabbit is because when Anna fled she left her toys including her pink rabbit thinking they would be back soon. Anna and her dad joke that Hitler sleeps with her pink rabbit.

Rated:  4.7/5 – "I’ve been reading heaps of Jackie French and my mum told me to read it. It is a bit different form the usual things I read in teens or spy stuff."

Out to Lunch ; Zoe and Chloe, bk. 2 by Sue Limb - reviewed by Zoe (10)

Zoe and Chloe are best friends and do everything together. They want to go on holiday to New Quay together but need to save money and convince their mums to let them go. Zoe also has an older sister named Tamsin who is going out with a married man named Ed (I think her sister is 25!).

Zoe and Chloe get a job at a farm at the same place where a boy Chloe likes named Oliver also works. She later decides he is lazy and rude and doesn’t like him anymore.

If they save enough money for the holiday at New Quay they can get to stay at a flat owned by Ed (when I think of Ed I think of an old and bald person). Unfortunately Tamsin and Ed split up. Then Zoe blackmails Tamsin into coming on holiday with them because they need an older person to go with them. Zoe tells Tamsin that she will tell their mum about Ed if she doesn’t go with them to New Quay.

Rated:  5/5 – "I like all the action."

Charlie and the War Against the Grannies by Alan Brough - reviewed by Georgia (10)

This is about a little boy named Charlie who has a best friend called Hydie who loves talking about war and wants to join the army. Charlie really wants to do a paper round but two grannies are already doing a paper round in his area. Charlie and Hydie decide to start a war to take the paper round off the grannies.

Rated:  5/5 EXPLODING EYEBALLS!!!!!